General

Introduction Asrar Rashid of Birmingham, UK, is a preacher who claims to be non-partisan, non-sectarian, and an objective, unbiased “Sunnī Muslim”. However, the subjectivity, and often baselessness, of his claims on the nature and roots of one of the most pronounced intra-Sunnī divides in the Indian Subcontinent proves otherwise. His …

To my friends, supporters and well wishers by: Dr Mohammad Akram Nadwi Oxford While I am grateful to you for your kindness and good intentions in defending me, on the internet and on social media, from those who criticise my opinions and arguments, I must respectfully ask you: please stop! …

In an Urdu article entitled “Three Points for the New Generation of Nadwa (Nadwa ki Jadeed Nasl se Teen Baateinh)”, Dr Akram Nadwi offers three pieces of advice to new graduates of Nadwat al-Ulama, Lucknow, to ensure their first steps after graduation lead them in the right direction and they …

Introduction National Zakat Foundation (NZF), which describes itself as “UK’s only Zakāt institution”, has recently released a relatively lengthy document outlining the juristic positions it adopts on basic Zakāt-related matters with an explanation of how these positions were reached.[1] The document rightly cautions that “Zakat is a pillar of Islam …

When people become hellbent on proving their viewpoint to be true, no matter how ridiculous it may be, it is common to see them gleefully embrace any information that confirms their view but dismiss or undermine anything that contests it. For people of this bizarre disposition, or “confirmation bias” to …

Academic Integrity “Why can’t we just be honest as scholars?”: an ironic but excellent question posed by Nahiem Ajmal (Abu Layth al-Maliki). Regardless of where one aligns themselves in terms of beliefs and viewpoints, everyone appreciates academic integrity. Inadvertently misquoting or misrepresenting others may reflect poor scholarship at the most, …

Dr Asim Yusuf, author of Shedding Light on the Dawn, recently delivered a talk at Ebrahim College on the “Anatomy of a Fatwa,” in which he made several startling claims. His talk was apparently aimed at showing that we are in a “post-madhhab age” and fiqh has to be conducted …

Zakāt is a central pillar of Islām and one of the primary acts of worship alongside ṣalāh, fasting in Ramaḍan and Ḥajj. Thus in light of the Qur’ān and Sunnah and the spirit and objective of Sharī‘ah, the jurists (fuqahā’) of the ummah have carefully articulated the legal philosophy of, …

The spiritual effects of the great north Indian Sufi of the Chishti tariqah, Sayyid al-Ta’ifah Haji Imdadullah Muhajir Makki (1814-1896), continues to manifest today across the globe. Though Haji Imdadullah did not complete his formal Islamic studies, he was definitely someone who had studied hadith, knew the rudiments of his …

Introduction It is not the first time someone is highlighting major discrepancies in the claims of Dr Akram Nadwi, and I can assure you it will not be the last time either. Right across the spectrum of Islamic sciences, Dr Akram, who is strangely hailed as a mujtahid by some …